Club History
| the_history_of_the_mid_minnesota_association_of_woodturners_09.19.25.pdf |
THE HISTORY OF THE
MID MINNESOTA ASSOCIATION OF WOODTURNERS
The Mid Minnesota Association of Woodturners (MMAW) originated from a demonstration for
the Central Minnesota Woodworkers Association (CMWA) on November 21, 2007.
http://www.thecmwa.com/sites/thecmwa.com/files/CMWA_2007-12.pdf Gary Mrozek hosted
the monthly meeting in his shop. He demonstrated some basic woodturning on his lathe. After
the demonstration, Gary shared his vision of a special interest sub-group of CMWA members
with a focus on wood turning. This group could share experiences and learn news techniques
from each other. Gary asked for a show of hands of those interested in pursuing this vision. At
the December Board meeting of the CMWA Gary presented his proposal. With the blessing of
the Board the new subgroup was launched. On Saturday, February 23, 2008, Gary set-up a
booth at the CMWA’s Wood Expo, held at the St. Cloud Armory. He shared his vision with the
public and displayed several wood-turned pieces from his collection. He invited those
interested to sign-up for notification of the first meeting of the CMWA Woodturners Group.
This meeting took place on Saturday March 8th, 2008, in Gary and wife Faye’s garage. It was
attended by 15 individuals. After the meeting, a focus group was formed and the CMWA
Woodturner’s Group was on their way. For the next year, the group met monthly. Popularity
grew and guests and members of the CMWA attended regularly.
In the summer of 2009, the group had grown to around 45 members and it was evident that
Gary’s garage could no longer facilitate the meetings. Gary scheduled a meeting with Melissa
Gohman and Derick Segerstrom of the Paramount Art District in St. Cloud. He explained his
dilemma and the need to find a new home for the group. The three of them brainstormed the
potential for a mutually beneficial arrangement that could satisfy both the Woodturners Group
and the mission of the Paramount Arts Resource Trust (PART), promoting and educating in a
variety of art mediums. Wood as a medium would be new to the Paramount.
Years 2010 to 2025 are available in the download
2025
Officers/Board Members: President Tyler Smith, Past-President Fred Schmoll, Secretary
Sharon Giesfeldt, Treasurer Tom Harlander, Director-at-Large to be appointed (expires 2026),
Director-at-Large Dan Drevlow (expires 2027)
Demos/Classes:
January: Demonstrations by several club members on the lathes
17
February: “Wig Stand” Linda Ferber
March: “Lidded Box” Guy Schafer
April: “Unique Live Edge Object” Guy Florek
May: “Embellishing Turnings with Air Brushing” Joe Fleming
June: no meeting / AAW Symposium June 12-15 St Paul, MN
July: Wood Raffle, tool sale with demonstrations on how to process blanks from logs.
August: Annual Brunch Potluck
September: “Lidded Box” Sally Ault (special guest)
October: “Seasonal Ornaments” (several MMAW members demonstrating)
November: “Plates/Platters” Dan Larson (Minneapolis Club)
December: Christmas Brunch, Gift Exchange, and Instant Gallery Sharing
Events:
The AAW’s Annual International Woodturning Symposium, St. Paul, MN, June 12-15, Tyler
Smith is the contact for the club.
1st Saturday “Watch Party” with the Minneapolis Turners Club.
Community Involvement:
The club will be making wig stands as a club project to replace our Empty Bowls donation from
prior years. We donated a total of 9 wig stands. Thanks to all who made and donated the wig
stands, you made a difference!
Empty Bowls for the AAW – Ellen Starr coordinating this event for the Symposium. We have
partnered for the event with Fireweed Community Woodshop. 239 bowls were sold at the
Symposium, raising over $6,000 and donated to Fireweed Community Workshop. Thank you to
Ellen Starr for collecting and delivering the bowls and to all who donated bowls for this
worthwhile effort.
Mid-Minnesota Association of Woodturners (MMAW) and The Central Minnesota
Woodworkers Association (CMWA) are collaborating to offer a $10 discount on membership
fees.
Shout out to Guy Schafer for coordinating the tool sale for Mike Hunter.
Art Crawl August 15 in front of the Paramount Center for the Arts from 4 pm – 8 pm
18
Ellen Starr is trying to get Women in Turning (WIT) group a little more active by starting a
monthly group.
Notes:
Need folks to volunteer to help during Open Shop – first Thursday and second Tuesday of every
month from 6 pm – 8:30 pm. Don may have the doors open earlier if you want to work on your
own project.
MMAW logo items now for sale – T-shirts ($10) and stickers.
Buying Wood Locally:
Mike Fanslaw, Renaissance Design Group. He has a sawmill and sells slabs and other options for
wood. He might be able to mill a log as well. His phone number is 320-492-1637, email:
[email protected] and he has a website www.portablewoodworker.com.
Greg Pont – he has all local wood types available as well as some exotics for sale. He can be
reached at Pont’s Logging and Lumber in Bowlus, MN. Web site : www.pontslumber.com.
Email : [email protected], Phone/Text : 320-584-5573.
Bill Sampson has a sawmill and lots of wood at this place in Paynesville. If you have a log at
least 4’ long, he can mill it for you, or he may have some cut-offs available. Phone: 320-557-
5331.